Australian Open 2014 draw

Roger endured a tough year in 2013, winning just one title in Halle, with his most notable defeat coming just a week later at Wimbledon, where he fell to Sergey Stakhovsky in Round 2.

It's a new year, a fresh tennis season, and the draw for the Australian Open was conducted this morning.

Here is the top half of the draw, where Roger is located:

I'm not even going to bother analysing anything beyond the 1st round, though a re-match against Stakhovsky would be welcome in the 3rd round should results pan out accordingly.

Federer's first match is against Australia's unheralded James Duckworth, but the pick of the round will obviously be Nadal vs Tomic in a night session on the Rod Laver arena.

Fantastic Federer overcomes Tsonga storm!

Roger Federer held his nerve and kept his cool to beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Rod Laver arena in 5 pulsating sets tonight.

What a match! It was so tense and I was nervous as Tsonga rattled serves past Federer and won numerous long rallies. There were a few moments in the match when I wasn't feeling too confident about Fed's chances. But the great man pulled through and I'm so proud of him!

Federer won the important 1st and 3rd sets, both on tiebreaks, but Tsonga wouldn't go away. If it wasn't for his errors at vital times, the outcome may have been different.

Federer is 31 but showed no signs of fatigue as the match rolled into a 5th set. The final score read 7/6, 4/6, 7/6, 3/6, 6/3 to the Swiss in a little over three and a half hours.

Credit goes to Tsonga for a great performance too. The Frenchman appeared to be in the zone, on serve and with his dangerous forehand. He had Federer on the stretch a number of times.

But Federer's game held firm and I'm absolutely delighted with this win. I'm sure he'll take a lot of added confidence into his semi-final with Andy Murray after this match, and here's hoping he can make another major final!